It's not the first time former government agent Frank Compton has had a new friend die within moments of meeting him. It's just that usually they have the decency to do it somewhere quiet and out of the way, not in the middle of a crowded Quadrail train. Being the only man at the scene of a violent murder could put a crimp in Compton's travel plans. At least this time he knows who's behind the attack - just not which body was used to carry it out.Compton's enemy, and the enemy of all civilized life, is an ancient, telepathically linked parasitic entity known as the Modhri. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can be one of its subconsciously enslaved walkers. Its goal is domination of the galaxy, one mind at a time. But the personal touch is so inefficient. It's only a matter of time until the Modhri's sleeper army of unwitting couriers, spies, and assassins acquires the firepower to destroy the civilizations united by the mysterious Quadrail - the only means of interstellar transit, the source of the peace and prosperity of the Twelve Empires.The Quadrail's workings are a mystery to all - except Compton, the only man alive to be granted employment with the secretive race of pacifists who quietly united the galaxy centuries ago with the Quadrail and the robotic Spiders that maintain and police it. But Compton's bosses can't afford to be discovered by the rest of the galaxy, particularly by the Modhri, and especially not as a result of their only representative being wanted for homicide. They're ready to terminate Frank and punch his ticket. But then, so is half the galaxy. Trust is something Compton can't afford as he fights a secret war against his ubiquitous enemy. But he won't be without allies. He is accompanied by Bayta, a woman with mysterious ties to the Spiders, and dogged by EuroUnion Special Agent Morse, who suspects him of murder but is bright enough to see that there's more to Compton than meets the eye. Together, they'll race the Modhri from station to station to acquire a set of valuable artifacts from a long-dead civilization. What the Modhri wants with them is anybody's guess. But if Compton can't outwit it, the whole galaxy will find out the hard way. Read Less